A Hero and a Protector
by TheNonDePlume
Summary: Artemis and Harry Potter grew up in the dark dingy orphanage. Abandoned on the doorstep at a young age these two children are young and bitter. When they turn eleven strangers turn up at the doorstep offering things previously unimaginable summary inside
1. Chapter 1

A Hero and a Protector

**Summary-**

**Artemis and Harry Potter grew up in the dark dingy orphanage. Abandoned on the doorstep at a young age these two children are young and bitter. When they turn eleven strangers turn up at the doorstep offering things previously unimaginable to the two. Unknowingly they enter a world not only fraught with danger but unwanted relatives, possibly even the parents that left them on the doorstep so long ago. **

Disclaimer- I do not own anything in the Harry Potter books, I do, however, own my own characters and ideas and places.

**Dedication- I dedicate this story to my sister, who just went through a very hard and painful surgery with minimal complaining, and because I love her!**

**Enjoy!**

_**Important!- Harry and Artemis were named by the orphanage because no message was left with them when they were dropped off, until they enter the wizarding world their last name will be Howe, Artemis and Harry Howe. **__**NOT**__** Potter!!!!**_

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July 31, 1991 (Harry and Artemis are turning 11 today!)

Artemis laughed. The laugh by most would be considered kind and pleasant. However the girl she was talking to knew better. Scowling, the brown haired girl named Miranda muttered to herself and walked away. _Should have known she'd be no help_ Miranda thought to herself.

Artemis watched as the girl walked away, still chuckling to herself. Of all the things to ask for, Miranda had wanted help on _summer reading homework _for god's sake. Quickly she spun around and walked through the deserted school building in search of her twin brother.

For as long as Artemis could remember she had lived in the orphanage with her twin brother, Harry. Every once in awhile a foster parent showed up, but all of them didn't stick around for long.

Artemis figured that at one time she had probably been a normal little kid, but too many things had happened over the years for her not to be the bitter, mean person she was now. Harry and herself were social outcasts, bitter and tough it was easy to see that the only person either could have a civil conversation with was the other twin.

They _were _very smart however, smart enough to skip a grade in school. That placed them in 6th grade at age ten. The teachers tended to avoid interacting with either child. Naturally this placed them even more at odds with the rest of the children at St. Philippe's School for Orphaned Children.

The school looked more like a prison than a school. It even had bars on the windows. Of course that was to be expected from a school in the slums of Paris, France.

Finally Artemis stopped at the door leading into the library. Pushing it open she saw her brother avidly reading some novel in the corner.

Sensing her arrival Harry looked up and a brief smile crossed his face as their identical, startling emerald green eyes locked together. Artemis swiftly made her way across the room and sat beside him.

"We have to go soon." Artemis informed him.

Harry sighed and nodded towards the book, "I'll come back tomorrow to finish it."

"Is it any good?"

"Very."

The Howe twins fell into companionable silence.

When Harry and Artemis had been dropped on the steps of St. Margaret's Orphanage there was nothing to indicate that either child had a name beforehand. The task of naming the two had fallen upon the orphanage matron who chose their first names as Harry and Artemis. She had trouble picking a last name, because according to her at least, "_I'll always wonder how two such smart and beautiful children landed on my doorstep." _Eventually she chose Howe.

The Matron of the orphanage had brought them up, she loved them, but just around their supposed fifth birthday the kind old matron dropped dead from a heart attack. That was the first time such pain touched their lives, not the last.

When the librarian shooed them out of the library Artemis and Harry started to walk along the sidewalks just to pass the time.

Suddenly Artemis swooped to pick up something from the pavement. Grinning brightly she waved the twenty Euros that were clutched in her hand. Harry joined her in jumping across the pavement excitedly.

Laughing uproariously the twins took off down the pavement, and running and giggling towards were they knew the old ice cream parlor was.

They both got a one scoop ice cream cone for a euro each.

They planned to save the rest of it, that's what they did in every situation such as this. They were both careful to not drip the bright, multi-colored ice cream on their orphanage uniforms.

Artemis devoured hers fast and quick, but Harry took his time. He savored the sweat taste of the ice cream dripping on his tongue. Taking their time they walked slowly, contenting themselves to spend their time considering their plans for rest of the money.

It was Artemis's plan to spend it quickly, but Harry wanted to save it for a time when they might need it in the future.

Eventually Artemis gave in.

It was a given that Harry would win the argument, after all compared to Artemis Harry was overwhelmingly forward thinking and rational. It helped that Harry kept a hold of his temper ten times better than she did.

That's not to say that Harry was calm, cool, and collected all of the time, 'cause he wasn't. He just didn't have a temper the size of North America like Artemis did.

Artemis hummed to herself as they walked, and when they came to the front of the orphanage she didn't scowl like usual, some would even say she was smiling.

Today felt like a good day to the Howe twins. And when Harry pushed open the door to the orphanage, it would later be agreed that today was one, for all intents and purposes, of the best days of their lives so far.

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Madame Olympe Maxime waited patiently for the Howe twins to return to the orphanage. Of course it was unusual for her to be the one to inform a child, or children in this case, that they are accepted to her school. However the French Ministry of Magic had informed her that these two were _very _powerful indeed, and she had been curious.

Gazing around the room the matron of the orphanage had placed her in made Madame Maxime quite sad for the two children. It was dust covered and the walls were completely unadorned with paint peeling off. Originally there had only been two chairs in the dreary room, but when she had requested another chair a folding chair had been brought and Madame had settled down to wait.

Now she heard voice in the hall and immediately her back straitened. A wrinkle appeared on her forehead as she saw the two black haired, green eyed children. They were to _thin_, dreadfully so. Skin and bones was all they were.

The girl stared at her. Her green eyes stared unwavering, unblinkingly at her face. Artemis was her name Madame recalled.

Standing up Madame introduced herself, "My name is Madame Maxime, and I'm so very pleased to meet you."

Harry smiled at her and soon all the introductions had been made. Sitting down Madame watched the two and saw that Artemis fiddled with her hands restlessly and Harry kept glancing at his sister.

So far they had been polite and courteous, but Madame didn't want to fill the time with small talk so she got to the point.

"I've come to offer you two a place at my boarding school" she told them, "It is all year round and a very special school meant for people exactly like you."

"You mean a school for orphans? We already go to one of those." Artemis told her with a frown.

"No, no my dear girl, I mean, well there is no easy way to say this, but you two are magical." Madame waited for an outburst of surprise and disbelief, none came.

Harry spoke up this time, "Madame could you please show us what you mean." His words were carefully picked and showed no emotion.

Taking out her wand Madame flourished it at the boy and his ratty uniform repaired itself, the faded colors grew brighter, and his hair less messy. They both gasped in surprise. Wordlessly Madame did it to the girl as well.

"I will have to take you both shopping," she said at last. "There are things you will need. The school is called Académie de Magie Beauxbâtons (or Beauxbatons Academy of Magic) the school year starts August 31 and someone will come to collect you. Rest up today, I will be back tomorrow." So saying Madame Olympe sailed out the door and disappeared, leaving both twins speechless.

When they heard the front door shut Artemis relaxed and looked at her twin, "so it is time eh?"

"I guess so," Harry said. Absentmindedly Harry reached up to his forehead and felt the unusual lightning bolt shaped scar there, smiling.

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**Just thought I'd say that everything spoken is in French.**


	2. Chapter 2

A Hero and a Protector- Chapter 2

I want to thank all of the people that sent me reviews. If I didn't replies to yours just send me a message and I'll be sure to write back, pronto. The reviews really helped me update faster, here are my replies:

panther73110- I've already replied, I hope you enjoy this chapter

tallica343- thank you for informing me about that. I changed that soon after I read your review. Sorry about saying pounds instead of Euros, little things like that really make a story better. Other than that I hope you enjoy the story

spacecatdet ()- I'm glad you think the beginning is interesting! However, don't be so sure that the Dursleys had anything to do with the twin's predicament. I hope you enjoy this chapter

Sis- It's good to know you like the story, I hope you like this chapter as well!

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THIS WILL NOT BE THE USUAL STORY WHERE THE POTTERS ABANDONDED THEIR CHILDREN BECAUSE THEY ARE STUCK UP PIGS TYPE OF STORY!!!!! THE POTTERS WANTED TO PROTECT THEM FROM VOLDIE, BUT THERE WILL BE MORE TO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TRWIWIZARD TOUNAMENT IS A VERY SMALL PART OF THE STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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**Languages **

When in this story multiple languages are used the words will be in different fonts.

"_French"= italics_

"English"= normal

"_**Parseltongue"= Bold Italics**_

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_**Before the next chapter begins I'll give a time line of events for the past years.**_

_1991__- Artemis and Harry go to __Beauxbatons for their first year. All of the teachers love them and they are considered geniuses by many of their class mates. Artemis joins one of the five quidditch teams that Beauxbatons has. Harry and Artemis convince the Headmistress to allow them to stay at Beauxbatons over the summer and get jobs in a local town. _

_1992__- Their second year at Beauxbatons. Artemis and Harry suggest to the Headmistress that she should get a teacher to teach muggle fighting to a select group of students who want to. It's done, and both of them excel at the class._

_1993__- Madame Maxime adopted both of the children and named Artemis as her heir, they had become extremely close over the years and Madame had no child and didn't ever expect to. Because of that both of the twins switched their last names to Howe- Maxime. Over the summer they spent their time at Maxime castle, however both children continued to work in local places._

_1994__- Harry joins one of the quidditch teams in his spare time, while Artemis continued to play on an opposing team and had a short obsession with magical creatures. The twins bought a shared owl that they shared and named Ames (which means friend in French). The twins are indeed becoming very powerful wizards._

_1995__- Their fifth year of schooling and both twins eventually became curious as to their parents. In modern history they learn about the rise and fall of the British Dark Lord Voldemort. Along with a project in modern history that both twins researched, they found out that the only Potter child, Justin Potter, was a triplet and that the other two Potter children were lost during the war. Even more disturbing was picture they found, in which both twins looked distinctly like the parents. When they showed it to Madame Maxime she had sniffed and said that 'any parent who doesn't keep their child doesn't deserve the child.' _

_1996__- Life continues in their sixth year. Harry starts dating. However he always keeps the relationships short and sweet. Artemis starts learning how to become an animagus, and drags Harry into it too. They get permission from the French ministry, by the end of the year Artemis can change half her body, and Harry can change two fifths of his. _

_1997__- Well this is where our story starts, isn't it?_

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Chapter 2- An Important Announcement

"_Block it, that's right move your arms!"_ Artemis dodged the blows of her classmate, Angélique Pépin, before stepping into the offensive and raining blow after blow onto the older girl. In a few second Artemis managed to make Angélique's knife fly from her hand and twist her arm behind her back with Artemis's knife resting at the base of her throat.

Currently they were in the muggle fighting class. Only thirteen students took the class from third year to seventh and they were all in the same class, even with the differing levels of expertise. It had been decided to combine the class because of how few took it. The teacher was Madame Giroux, she was thirty-four and had fought in Britain as an auror during the previous war. Besides Artemis, Harry, and Angélique there were six boys and four girls who took the class.

The class was taught how to use muggle guns, knives, and the art of muggle karate and boxing. Giroux also taught the class how to mix the muggle fighting with magical dueling. To take the class you had to stay physically fit or there was no way you'd survive it. Unlike other classes you had it every day for a double period. Only the people who wanted to be aurors ever really took the class. Artemis was the best in the class, except for being beaten occasionally by Harry at fist fighting and Angélique at purely magical dueling.

"_I yield,"_ Angélique said.

Artemis released her and Angélique stepped away.

"_I don't know why I even try anymore,"_ Angélique stated, _"you almost always win anyway."_

"_You said 'almost always win' if you didn't try I'd always win."_ Artemis replied with a straight face.

Angélique didn't deign to answer her, and instead she started to stretch her muscles as a cool down.

The bell for the end of class rang and Madame Giroux dismissed them all, all of the students from muggle fighting had a free period next, and most of them headed to the changing rooms and showers that had been specially set up just for this class.

Artemis entered the girls changing room and peeled of her sweat soaked t-shirt and shorts before getting in the showers to cool off. Afterwards she changed into the Beauxbatons uniforms, which consisted of long silk blue and gold robes with shoes of the student's choice. She swung her brown leather messenger bag over her shoulder and left the room after saying goodbye to the people still there.

The color of the robes depended upon a person's year at Beauxbatons, the seventh year colors were gold and blue (the Beauxbatons colors), the sixth year colors were red and copper, fifth years wore green and black, fourth year was orange and yellow, third was maroon and purple, second was mahogany and cranberry, and last but not least first years wore silver and white.

Outside the changing rooms Harry waited for her, slumped against the wall and staring at a piece of paper.

"_What's that?"_ Artemis asked him.

Looking up Harry smiled, _"a poem, I'm not really sure who it's from though."_

Artemis snorted, "_Let's go, I really need to finish that essay for herbology."_

Together they walked through the golden halls of Beauxbatons to the seventh year common room. Artemis threw her bag into the chair next to her with resignation and said,

"_Madame said that tonight she had a big announcement at dinner, wonder what it is." _

"_Yeah,"_ Harry replied, _"normally she'd just tell us before hand."_

"_Must be good news though, she looked really excited."_

"_Maybe Leduc is getting expelled,"_ he mused.

"_I wish."_ Artemis grumbled, _"He's really getting on my nerves this year and it's only the first day of classes."_

"…_anyway do you know what the best way to pick a monstrous pod is?"_

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It was traditional at Beauxbatons to have the feast after the first day of classes, because students arrived all of that day before the feast.

It was expected that the students should wear their dress robes to the feast. Most of the children's dress robes didn't correspond with the colors of their years. For instance Artemis had black and green dress robes and Harry's were all dark blue.

Some of the seventh year girls took the feast as an excuse to dress themselves up and smother themselves in makeup, not all of them, but a select few. Artemis and Angélique were not the type to put beauty products on so instead they both lay face down of Artemis's bed trying to stifle their laughs at the absurd conversations going on around them.

"_Have you seen my lacy underwear, you know the black pair."_

"_No but you can barrow mine if you want."_

"_Can someone help me powder my chest, it's far too white."_

"_OH MY GOSH, DID YOU SEE THE RAT!"  
_

The last one actually had some merit, Artemis and Angélique had both conjured up a few rats to run on the floor of the dorm rooms. After all one could only take so much of conversations like that, even if they weren't directly involved in them. While the other girls were trying to squash the little buggers the two friends left the room, they were already ready for the feast after all.

When it was finally time to go to the feast Harry and Artemis entered the feasting hall together. Looking for the entertainment that Madame Maxime always scheduled Artemis saw a group of wood nymphs in the corner holding wooden instruments.

There were many tables set around the hall. They were circular with room to seat fifteen at each. They spotted a group of friend and went over to settle down in the high backed copper chairs.

When everyone had settled down and was waiting patiently Madame Maxime stood up to give her annual start of term announcement.

"_Welcome all of you to the 1997 school year at __Beauxbatons Academy of Magic." _Polite clapping met this and Madame Maxime continued on.

"_Now before we get to comfortable I'd like to greet the new first year class at the academy and hope that everyone got here with no problems."_

Gabriel Lefebvre leaned over and whispered in Artemis's ear, _"I can't wait for the mysterious announcement that I've been hearing about, you too?"_

"_Yes, I have also been wondering."_ She smiled at him.

While they were whispering Madame Maxime had finished with the normal part of the start of term announcements and was starting on the 'surprise' part.

"_It is with great wonder that I announce that any student over the age of seventeen will be traveling to Hogwarts for part of the coming school year." _Artemis looked like she was about to throw up when she and Harry shared a look, the rest of the student body clapped excitedly however.

Madame Maxime was not finished, _"not only will they be studying with the Hogwarts and Durmstrang students but the champion chosen for our school will compete in the TRIWIZARD TOUNAMENT!"_ the last part of her announcement was shouted and the students all stood up to clap and cheer excitedly. Artemis and Harry managed to fake their way through the rest of the meal, trying to seem as excited as their friends. After all they would also travel to Hogwarts and get to watch the games in the tournament.

Artemis only wished they could have delayed it another year until she was out of school, but really since when did she have that much luck.

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Hogwarts September 1, 1997

Lily Potter dropped into a chair in her rooms at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Leaning back as her husband rubbed her shoulders she sighed.

In truth it was a hectic day. The students had arrived, the announcement had been made about the Tri-wizard tournament, and she had been introduced as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Really she hadn't wanted the position, but Dumbledore had been desperate when he asked her so she had agreed. Well and the fact is that now that Voldemort was back many order members were staying in the castle anyway, so as to ensure the safety of the students and faculty. That was why James was here, he wouldn't be staying all the time, but for important events Dumbledore had asked many order members to room in the castle so as to prevent an attack.

"Wonder if he'll enter." Lily murmured to her husband.

"Who?"

"Justin of course," Lily rolled her eyes, "Who else, James?"

"Dunno love, but the pronoun 'he' applies to a lot of people." James smiled at her.

"Sure, sure, sure."

Lily smiled briefly to herself, before frowning quickly, best not think of those types of things now. It was over and done with, even though she wished it wasn't. So thinking Lily got up and moved from the chair towards the bedroom calling over her shoulder,

"James dear, we best get to bed now. I have class tomorrow."

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**A/N- I promise you all that this will**** NOT**** be the usual the Potters are stuck up prats and that when Artemis and Harry get to Hogwarts they will hate everything about it, and no one has any faults besides Justin 'cause he's a stuck up cow and Harry and Artemis got all the talent in the family type of story. Please don't worry, this story will be ****original. **

**Besides that I hope you all love the story, I'll try my best to post often, but I don't know if I'll be able to all the time.**

**If anyone sees any falsities in the story please tell me, and excuse my atrocious grammar.**

**Happy Reading,**

**Appleeater123**


	3. Chapter 3

A Hero and A Protector- Chapter 3

I really want to thank all of my reviewers for their lovely reviews, and I hope I answer all your questions to your satisfaction!

FastlyFadingIntoDarkness:

Well I'm soooooooooo happy you like this story! Sorry if you thought that the last chapter was a cliffie, that was unintentional but I definitely see what you mean. I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations and I want to apologize for how long it took to update

Whisperheart:  
I'm so glad you're enjoying this story! All reviews are really appreciated! I hope you like this chapter and I'm very sorry that it took me so long to update, I've just been soooooo busy lately!

panther73110:  
Thanks for the review! Also, to answer your questions, Justin is the eldest; Artemis is the second child, while Harry is the youngest. That is why the children were sent away. The Potters and Dumbledore assumed that the eldest child was the child of the prophecy, so the Potters sent their two youngest children away for safety reasons. And no, Justin is not the BWL.

Remember when in this story multiple languages are used the words will be in different fonts.

"_French"= italics_

"English"= normal

"_**Parseltongue"= Bold Italics**_

**Justin Potter's POV- the arrival of the opposing schools (October 30, 1997)**

Justin Potter was an interesting boy. It would be very easy to assume that he was shy and studious. That's only if you didn't know him or know about him at all, not even a miniscule amount.

Once you got to know him it was a different matter, he was the keeper on the Gryffindor quidditch team, really good but not the star player. Justin was friends with everyone, but his best friends were Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom. He had messy black hair from his father, and his father's ears and nose, but he got his tall, lean build from his mother. The most engaging part of him was his green eyes. At one point his parents had told him that he, his brother, and his sister all got the same eyes and hair, which for Justin made them his favorite features.

It's not that he didn't agree with his parents that it was smart to send his younger triplets out of England with a family friend for safety during the war, it's just that as many friends as Justin had now he knew that somehow his entire life he had missed out on something great. Having siblings he thought (especially twins or triplets) was like having someone there for you all your life no matter what, someone who loved you unconditionally that wasn't your parents and someone who really understood how annoying having your parents at school was when you wanted to complain about them.

Justin never had much of an affinity for trouble and so, he never filled his father's wildest dreams of carrying on the Marauder's legacy. He did manage to be one of the smartest in his grade at Transfiguration and Potions, while being in the top fifty percent with his other classes.

Justin wanted to be a healer when he graduated or an auror if he was going to do what his parents wanted.

Lily and James Potter were both well known aurors from the fight against Voldemort. His mum had taken a year off so that she could teach at Hogwarts, and like every teenager on the face of the earth Justin hated the very idea of either of his parents setting foot in the school, let alone teaching his classes.

Why, I thought as I stood outside on Hogwarts front lawn waiting for the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students to get here, did mum even _think_ to _accept _the teaching position let alone actually accept it! I'll never do that to my children, Justin thought to himself.

I was getting slightly boring standing outside in the cold waiting for the other schools to come. I really hoped that I would be chosen as the champion for Hogwarts, but I doubted that I would. After all almost everyone that was old enough at Hogwarts would try and be the Hogwarts Champion too, and other people are better than me at lots of things. I wrapped my cloak even tighter around myself hoping to ward off the autumn chill.

Suddenly a large speck appeared in the sky and as it got closer he recognized what looked like a carriage being pulled by flying horses with the symbol for Beauxbatons painted on the outside. When it finally landed the students of Hogwarts were a taken back by how huge the carriage was. It was bigger than a house and I thought that it was a bit extreme to make those poor, poor horses carry such a monstrosity.

The graceful golden doors were opened and out stepped the most enormous woman I'd ever seen, she was almost as tall as Hagrid even! Behind her the students from Beauxbatons got out and lined up. They all wore the same gold and blue uniforms and there was a grace to many of the students that I'd be hard pressed in _any_ students from Hogwarts.

The leader of the group walked up to Professor Dumbledore and they started chatting, you know introducing themselves and being overly polite. After that Dumbledore had Professor McGonagall show them up to the castle.

I noticed that Madame Maxime stayed behind to wait for Durmstrang with Professor Dumbledore. Standing on either side of the Beauxbatons Headmistress stood a boy and a girl. They looked to be my age and there was something striking in their appearance and the way they held themselves that was extremely striking. They looked to be twins. I remembered what Dumbledore and Maxime had talked about earlier and remembered that she had introduced both of the two teenagers as her children.

For some reason I thought they were adopted, which _of course_ had nothing to do with the fact that the children did not hold _any_ resemblance to the enormous Madame Olympe Maxime. For one they were normal, human, sized.

For a long time I puzzled over who they reminded me of.

**A/N sorry this chapter was so short, the next one will be much longer. I just wanted to get something posted, because it's been so long since I updated, which I am profoundly sorry about dear readers. I was on vacation in Europe, which was by the way SO AWSOME. **

**Please read and review, it would really make my day!**

**Until next time,**

**-Appleeater123 **


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